The present invention relates to an occupant protection device of a vehicle which is equipped with a three-point seatbelt.
The three-point seatbelt includes a shoulder belt operative to support an occupant by extending obliquely from a shoulder to a waist of the occupant and a lap belt operative to protect the occupant by extending laterally over the waist of the occupant. A pre-tensioner operative to draw in the seatbelt at a vehicle collision is generally attached to an end portion of the shoulder belt of the three-point seatbelt. Herein, the pre-tensioner operates at the vehicle collision so that the shoulder belt is mainly pulled so as to press the occupant against the seat properly.
Japanese Utility-Model Publication No. 53-35850 proposed a technology in which in addition to a pre-tensioner which is connected to an end portion of the shoulder belt (shoulder-belt pre-tensioner), another pre-tensioner which is connected to an end portion of the lap belt (lap-belt pre-tensioner) is provided. According to the technology of the above-described publication, the two pre-tensioners operate at the vehicle collision so that both the shoulder belt and the lap belt are pulled, thereby protecting the occupant more properly. The lap-belt pre-tensioner may be disposed inside a side sill, which is provided at a side portion of a vehicle floor, along the side sill so as not to project into an ingress-egress opening. This kind of disposition of the lap-belt pre-tensioner along the side sill is also described in other patent publications, such as Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2006-199197, 2006-199198, 2004-359028 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,232,155.
Meanwhile, in a vehicle equipped with a slide door, it may be necessary that there are provided a rail for guiding the slide door and a rail box to accommodate the rail. In a slide-door vehicle with a relatively low vehicle floor, a projecting portion which projects toward the inside of the vehicle compartment is provided at the side sill, and a rail box is accommodated at the projecting portion.
In this case, the lap-belt pre-tensioner may not be disposed inside the side sill along the side sill. Herein, while it is considered that the lap-belt pre-tensioner is disposed on an upper face of the projecting portion, this layout may cause a problem in that the lap-belt pre-tensioner projects into the ingress-egress opening.